THE DUTCH POLITICAL CONFLICT

WITH THE REPUBLIC OF INDONESIA, 1945-1949

PART 2. DUTCH CIVIL ADMINISTRATORS (BESTUURSAMBTENAREN) IN THE NETHERLANDS INDIES AND NETHERLANDS NEW GUINEA,

1933-1962

Part 2.4. Papers of A.J. Piekaar

(1933-1955 [1959])

Sumatra

National Archives of the Netherlands, The Hague

on microfiche

Short biography

Arie Johannes Piekaar was born in Rotterdam in 1910. He studied Indology at the University of Leiden, obtaining a doctorate there in 1933 with a dissertation entitled Moederland en Overzeesche Financiën, studie van vergelijkend staatsrecht (Mother country and Overseas Finances, a study in comparative constitutional law). From 1934 until 1949 he worked for the Dutch colonial administration in the Indies, beginning his career in the Residency of Aceh in Sumatra, where he perfected his knowledge of the local language. He was interned during the Japanese occupation of World War II (1942-1945). After the war he served in Borneo and the “Great East” (Grote Oost) before becoming secretary to the High Representative of the Crown from 1948 until the transfer of sovereignty in December 1949. From 1950 until he repatriated in 1953 he worked for the Netherlands High Commission in Jakarta. After his return to the Netherlands he held various positions at the Ministry of Education, rising to become a director-general. In addition, he was a member of the boards of several organizations, especially the Koninklijk Instituut voor Taal-, Land-, en Volkenkunde (KITLV) (Royal Netherlands Institute of Southeast Asian and Caribbean Studies) in Leiden. Piekaar was a widely acknowledged expert on Aceh and his book Atjeh en de oorlog met Japan (Aceh and the War with Japan) (The Hague: Van Hoeve, 1949) is regarded as a standard work. He died in 1990.

The papers

The papers micropublished here concern Piekaar’s career in the Netherlands Indies and early independent Indonesia until the mid-1950s. The collection is divided into two parts

• the first covering his work and developments in Aceh from 1933 until 1953
• and the second  relating to the process of decolonization more generally and the first years of the 1950s.

There are many documents in the Indonesian and Acehnese languages, including folk tales.

For Aceh there are

• extensive materials on the Japanese invasion and occupation, including
• the structure of Japanese rule
• the internment camps
• economic policy
• and the capitulation and its aftermath
• on religious movements during the war and the struggle between secular and religious powers in the postwar period
• and on economic policy and political developments after the transfer of sovereignty.

The second part of the collection includes

• memos from Piekaar to the High Representative of the Crown and his staff, 1948-1949
• missives sent by the High Representative, with appendices, 1949
• notes containing advice and recommendations to the High Representative in reaction to documents received, 1949
• incoming and outgoing correspondence after the transfer of sovereignty, 1950-1953
• proceedings of the Indonesian parliament, 1953-1954 and others.